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As seen on BCTV April 23/02 FROZEN BREAKFAST TO GO We know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It provides our bodies with the fuel it needs to get moving, our minds thinking and our metabolism revving. Breakfast is our opportunity to get a good dose of fibre, vitamins and minerals, yet the actual choices some are making are downright unhealthy. Typically, when one thinks of breakfast, one might get the image of eggs and toast, an omelet or French toast. However, unless you are living in Beaver Cleaver's house, this is not the typical breakfast fare. For most of us, breakfast takes all of 2 minutes to prepare and the more portable the better. Well, if breakfast is so important, why is it that we are making such poor choices? At least with cold cereal you have a great selection to choose from and you get a serving of milk or soymilk with it. However, when it comes to frozen breakfasts it is a completely different story. With frozen pancakes having the nutritional value of white bread and Schneider's Hot Stuffs Eggs Ranchero having 11 grams of fat (50% being saturated fat) it's hardly a great start to your day. Nevertheless, within all the nutritional duds there are some nutritional studs. When it comes to pancakes, stick with the mixes and choose one with more than 4g of fibre per serving such as Arrowhead Mills or Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat pancake mix. As far as waffles are concerned, most contain about 4-8 grams of sugar per 2 waffle serving. However, beware of McCain Gold and Crisp Cinnamon Waffles with their 12g of sugar and the Eggo Centres stuffed with jam that contain even more than 12g of sugar. Be sure to read the labels carefully, if you hadn't noticed, the Eggo centres use one waffle as a serving size which is ½ that of their other waffles, so it seems there is less sugar that there really is. Frozen waffles are more likely to be whole grain than frozen pancakes. Don't assume that "8 grains" on the box means that the waffle is actually made with whole grain. Look for whole grain flour as the first item on the ingredient list or check to see if the product has at least 4g of fibre per serving. Eggo Plus Wheat and Berry are made with mostly white flour but the Eggo Plus line does beat the regular Eggo any day. Some better choices would be Eggo Plus Fibre which has more than 4 g of dietary fibre per serving. Master's Choice Belgian Style Whole Wheat and Van's Belgian 7 Grain waffles have no refined flour at all, and the Lifestream line has many great choices such as Mesa Sunrise, Hemp Plus, Soy Plus, Flax Plus and 8 Grain Sesame. Blueberries you ask? Not in waffles. Not even in the ingredient list. The only thing you'll see on the Eggo Blueberry waffle ingredient list is blueberry nuggets with simulated blueberry flavour and the Smart Choice blueberries are treated with sugar, sodium alginate, calcium lactate, flavour colour, (to name a few). Some waffles even provide flax, soy and omega-3 fatty acids. While it's true that flax is a good source of omega-3 fats, and that these may help prevent heart attacks and strokes (although the evidence is stronger for fish oils), that doesn't mean that a waffle with flax will do the same, particularly not if you're smothering it with butter and syrup. If the company doesn't list how much omega-3 is in the product, there likely isn't enough to speak of. Lifestream Flax Plus and Van's Organic Soy Flax contain 100mg of omega-3 fats in 2 waffles which makes it a pretty good source. Soy protein can help reduce cholesterol if you eat 25g/day. But this is more than what you get in 3 oz of pure tofu. The Lifestream Soy Plus waffles don't contain any soy protein at all, just soy isoflavones which may not affect cholesterol levels at all. You can even choose organic waffles to help protect the environment and the gluten-free, yeast-free, dairy-free or egg-free waffles if you have food allergies or are a strict vegetarian. The Bottom Line: Choose a high fibre waffle and boost its' nutritional value by topping it with low fat yogurt and sliced fruit or natural peanut butter and an all-fruit spread. Watch for the Eating for Energy segment on BCTV's Noon News Hour!
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